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On Belarus, “as is always the case, the IMF is guided by the international community, which continues to deal with the current government in the country,” fund spokesman Gerry Rice said on August 12 in emailed comments to Bloomberg. “Given recent developments, we continue to monitor the situ- ation closely.”
Some regimes like Venezuela and Myanmar will not be eligible for the SDR hand out as, unlike Belarus, a majority of IMF members do not recognise their governments. But other countries that will receive money include China $42bn, Russia $18bn, Iran $5bn and Ukraine $2.7bn.
Belarus’ share of the $650bn is 0.14%, which corresponds to about $910mn and the pay-out is due to be made on August 23.
Despite the outraged reaction amongst activists Bloomberg reports that the question of excluding Belarus from the handouts was not even discussed by IMF members, a person familiar with the fund’s operations told the newswire.
bne:Tech
First restaurant with food prepared by robotic chefs to open in Zagreb
bne IntelliNews
Anew restaurant, Bots & Pots, where food will be prepared by GammaChef, a robotic chef capable of preparing one-pot dishes, will soon be opened in Zagreb, the Netokracija portal reported.
The GammaChef robot is currently learning from a professional (human) chef. GammaChef carefully records the recipes of traditional Dalmatian dishes and converts them into digital data. After that, the software makes sure that the robot repeats all the steps in preparing the dish, according to the instructions of a professional chef.
According to Netokracija, there will be five robots in the Bots & Pots restaurant, which means they will be able to serve up to 60 portions per hour. One robot can prepare 12 portions per hour (three pots of four portions).
Based in the small Croatian town of Mravince, near Split, GammaChef is was developed entirely in Croatia. Its founders
US Treasury officials earlier this year said the US will refrain from offering to exchange SDRs to dollars for countries which it sanctions including Russia, China, Iran and Belarus, and will pressure allies to do the same.
Even if the US declines to provide Belarus with hard cur- rency, the IMF has 31 other nations and institutions who have entered into voluntary trading arrangements to provide cash in exchange for SDRs, including China.
It appears that Lukashenko did not expect to receive the IMF money. A week prior he asked Putin for a billion dollars from the Eurasian Development Bank to replace the loan that he didn’t expect to receive from the fund. He said the money is needed to repay and refinance foreign debt through the beginning of 2022.
Despite Lukashenko’s increasing dependence on Putin’s sup- port to remain in power in the face of international isolation, the Belarusian leader has continued to be a source of frustra- tion for the Russian government.
say the aim is to “modernise and automate commercial kitchens while uncompromisingly maintaining the quality of prepared meals.”
“We don’t believe in 3D printing of food and we don’t believe in magic pills that will replace eating. Yes we believe in digital recipes but in digital recipes of our grandmas, your friends or the best chefs that put their love, passion and knowledge to prepare tasty meals. We believe there are no shortcuts in cooking, therefore, GammaChef prepares food just like real people do,” its website said.
The GammaChef project was co-financed by the European Union from European Structural and Investment Funds
Despite its small size, Croatia has seen the launch of numerous innovative tech firms, including others in the IT hardware sector such as Gideon Robots and smart bench company Include/Steora.
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